Alternate names: Zhytomyr [Ukr], Zhitomir and Житомир [Rus, Yid: ז'יטומיר ], Żytomierz [Pol], Schytomyr [Ger], Žytomyr, Žitomir, Shitomir, Jitomir. 50°15' N, 28°40' E, 82 miles W of Kyyiv, 71 miles N of Vinnytsya (Vinnitsa). Jewish population: 30,738 (in 1897), 29,503 (1939). After WWII liberation and according to the 1959 census about 14,800 Jews (about 14% of the total population), but probably closer to 25,000 lived in Zhytomyr with a well-kept cemetery and a synagogue with a rabbi. The synagogue building was ordered destroyed in 1962 for a large apartment house. The Jewish community rented a new apartment. In 1990, the city had approximately 12,000 Jews.

After the Iron Curtain was lifted, thousands immigrated to Israel, the U.S., and Germany. Those remaining established congregations throughout northern and western Ukraine with Zhitomir as the headquarters for 167 congregations, 29 of which have their own synagogue and 28 with their own daily Torah study groups. The Jewish community in Zhitomir has a synagogue, a community center, a mikveh, yeshivas, kindergartens, a day school, a university for men, a library, a soup kitchen, a women's club, a boarding house for boys and for girls, and a cemetery.